RI Author's Corner: Mark Peter Hughes in his own words....

How did you become an author?

I've make up stories all my life. I've written them as long as I've been able to write. My first published novel got the attention of my editor, Stephanie Lane Elliott, at Random House, after I submitted it to the Delacorte Press Young Adult Novel Competition. I've been working with her ever since.

What three books or authors most influenced your style and why?
Jeez, this is a tough one because there are so many that I've loved. Some of my favorites as a child that I still love now are The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald. As a teenager I loved The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The World According to Garp by John Irving and The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. I also love Paul Micou, Barbara O'Connor, Phillip K. Dick, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut. There are so many more, but that's more than three, so I'll stop there.

What projects are you working on now? What is your favorite book you have written and why?
I always like the one I'm writing. My first book, I Am the Wallpaper, was special because it was the first one and there never any quarantee it would ever get published. It was just fun to write a story. I wasn't even aware that I was writing a young adult novel until it was mostly finished. I was just writing about a teenager.

My second book, Lemonade Mouth, was a challenge because it's the story of a high school band told from the five different perspectives of the band members. I like to write funny, so that was a fun one to write.

I just finished my third book, A Crack in the Sky, which is the first in a science-fiction series about a future America where global warming has gone to an extreme and everything is so hot and stormy that they've had to put protective domes over all of the cities. Man, that was a tough book to write because it was so different from anything else I've done before, but I'm very happy with it and can't wait until it comes out in the fall. Now I'm writing the second book in the series - which is called The Greenhouse Chronicles. Like I say, whatever I'm writing now is always my favorite.

People are always curious about an author's writing process. How do you approach your work?

I'm a write-at-home dad with three kids so I fit writing in whenever I can. After I get them on the bus I usually get a tall cup of coffee and start typing. I think if you really want to write, then you have to sit down and write. You can't be one of those who say they're going to write someday. Today is that day. If I write today then I'm a writer today. So that's what I do.

[For more information and updates about what Mark is doing now, visit the Mark Peter Hughes website.]

2010 Reading Across Rhode Island Title Chosen

The 2010 Reading Across Rhode Island (RARI) title is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

Shortly after the end of WWII, Juliet Ashton of London receives a letter from a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – only the beginning of a series of letters bridging two islands and chronicling the story of the Guernsey islanders’ indomitable spirit during the German occupation.

Save the Date: The 8th Annual May Breakfast: May 1, 2010 with Keynote, Annie Barrows, co author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Also please watch this blog and the Reading Across Rhode Island website for the date for the January Launch Conference and other activities and resources about our 2010 title.

Ms. Barrows is also the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean and The Magic Half. Mary Ann Shaffer, a librarian and editor, nurtured the tale about Guernsey for twenty years before committing pen to paper. Unfortunately, Ms. Shaffer passed away in February, 2008 before the final edits to the manuscript were complete. She asked her niece, Annie Barrows, to complete the revisions - and the story is now ours to share with all Rhode Islanders.

Let’s Talk about the Short List for Reading Across RI 2010

Have you read any of the titles on our Reading Across RI Short List for 2010? Help the Nominating Committee make the difficult decision with your input on the list of titles they are considering for 2010. Join us in discussing the seven books on the RARI Short List for 2010 by posting your comments about these books (each title has its own post):

• Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann
• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
• The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Karen Stockett

Summary from Novelist Plus: Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Novelist Plus summary: In 1946, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lhari

Summary from Novelist Plus: Exploring the secrets and complexities lying at the heart of family life and relationships, a collection of eight stories includes the title work, about a young mother in a new city whose father tends her garden while hiding a secret love affair.

Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Summary from Novelist: Young Sarah Carrier tries to cope with life in Salem, Massachusetts, after her mother, Martha Carrier, is accused, tried, and hanged as a witch.